ASUS Maximus VIII Hero ATX Motherboard - Grey/Red/Black

Product Information

Featuring a customised trace layout for reduced crosstalk and coupling noise, second-generation T-Topology ensures time-aligned signal transfer for improved memory stability and compatibility. ASUS has also provided a bunch of other applications; RAM Cache, RAMDisk, Keybot II, and GameFirst III. A resetable fuse is used to protect the DRAM from overcurrent situations and doubles as the means to protect the board from inbound power surges. High gaming performance – 5-Way Optimisation with Auto-Tuning, second-generation T-Topology and OC design. Personally, I prefer the placement of the power and reset buttons to be in the top-right corner, since they’re less likely to be blocked by expansion cards.

There are three of the latter in total, with your typical two-way GPU setup getting a x8/x8 lane configuration courtesy of the two grey slots, which are double-spaced to aid air-cooled cards. The choice to use Texas Instruments NexFETs in the VRM was a sound one as can be seen in the thermal imaging section. This is where you can fast forward to the final section of the review, and get a quick recap and points on the ASUS Maximus VII Hero. There are only two USB 3 ports in addition to these, so if you have lots of SuperSpeed devices, you may find the Hero a little lacking. They mention that it oozes quality, is an excellent board complemented by great BIOS, and is a great motherboard for gamers.To the right of the buttons, we have 2 x RGB LED strip headers which can be controlled in Windows via the ASUS AURA RGB software. com/support/FAQ/1046215 it also states Intel 6th Gen / 7th Gen Core processors are not on the official list of compatible processors.

In my opinion, the ASUS UEFI BIOS are some of the easiest to use and as silly as it sounds, best looking. Layout, on the whole, is excellent, with plenty of space around the CPU socket despite the huge heatsinks and shroud, plus you get angled SATA ports.

If you are looking for one of the best motherboard on market for Intel Skylake (i5 6600K, i7 6700K and all the other 1155 socket cpu) then this ASUS motherboard is for you. Offering support for a pair of graphics cards in addition to high-speed storage, Asus is clear in its targeting of gamers who are willing to spend a little more on a motherboard that comes equipped with a solid supply of features. Intel® Z170 also supports integrated-graphics (iGPU) functions, so you'll enjoy the very latest Intel integrated graphics performance. Forming the aforementioned set of features are Asus' enhanced – SupremeFX – audio solution, an Intel NIC with network prioritisation software, a diverse range of gaming-centric software applications, and a customisable lighting scheme for the chipset heatsink LED. Behind each of the ports on the I/O panel are diodes that help limit your exposure to an electrostatic discharge.

And now Turbo App is even more powerful than before, giving you the ability to connect to profiles previously set in Sonic Studio II and KeyBot II, so setup couldn't be simpler! The back of the PCB is bare for the most part, but there are 10 red LEDs that light up the audio isolation pathway. Advanced fan and water-pump controls for ultimate cooling and quietness with onboard thermal sensors and hardware-level 4-pin PWM/3-pin DC mode detection, Fan Xpert 3 makes sure every fan achieves the best balance of cooling performance and low noise!The anti-surge features of LANGuard is designed to withstand higher ESD for better protection, while the use of SMT components reduces transmission loss between 130 KHz ~ 300 MHz when compared to a traditional LAN port," according to ASUS. GameFirst IV Beta optimizes network traffic for faster, lag-free online gaming — and now we've added Multi-Gate Teaming to team all your networks for maximum bandwidth and the smoothest-ever gameplay. The board looks more like the Hero than the Formula, though, and while RGB lighting is included on the board itself too, Asus hasn't done away with the red detailing like it did on the Formula, so the latter is still worth considering if you want a blank slate as far as colour matching is concerned.

Usually that's all you get as far as information goes, but on the latest crop of ASUS ROG boards the front panel flips up to take a deeper dive into some of what really makes the ROG brand a sought after commodity.Casting Enhancer improves both streaming and recording audio quality, reducing noise artifacts and stabilizing overall voice volume. It has minor setbacks with an odd plastic shroud (subjective) but It is incredibly hard to fault this board.